


time has a funny kind of violence

by braigwen_s



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Flashbacks, Gen, Graphic descriptions of injury, Introspection, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:27:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21866713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/braigwen_s/pseuds/braigwen_s
Summary: The image of the exasperated, stern youth with his arm through her big sister’s was still crystal-clear, but it was filtered through. Softer. Older and wiser and a bit ragged.A missing scene during the B3 finale.
Relationships: Lin Beifong & Suyin Beifong, Suyin Beifong & Tenzin
Comments: 6
Kudos: 26





	time has a funny kind of violence

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Good Grief" by Dessa.

“It’s been too long,” said Su, lowering herself into a cross-legged lotus seat, next to the mat where Tenzin was lying. She doubted he could see her expression through his black and puffy eyes, but she knew the weariness bled into her voice, too. He shifted, the red of open blood and inflammation making it hard to tell where his robes and skin bordered.

“Yes,” he said, slow and careful but still slurred, “it has”.

Su sighed. “I regret a lot of things, but right now it’s mostly that I can’t fulfil the promise I once made you.”

After a few moments thinking, he clearly didn’t remember. “I don’t recall,” he said, in fact, as soon as she’d decided it. “Was it to be home by eleven?” There was the huff of a painful smile, so she knew he was joking instead of delirious. Damnit, she couldn’t help the care and concern in her, and she was starting to see how Lin had kept the grudge against her so well. It was far easier to hate a person if you didn’t see them at their most vulnerable. The image of the exasperated, stern youth with his arm through her big sister’s was still crystal-clear, but it was filtered through. Softer. Older and wiser and a bit ragged. Time had a funny kind of violence, she thought, the way it crumbled and remade things. People. Relationships. It was strange, that Lin had forgiven him but she had not. But then, they hadn't been separated for twenty years.

“No, Tenzin,” she said, briefly touching his forehead. It was hot from the blood in it, and she was honestly impressed he had enough of the stuff to go around his whole body, especially after the amount he’d already bled. She pulled her hand back, so he wouldn’t fear the gentle pressure would turn into violence. “It was to beat you to a pulp when you broke my sister’s heart.” After a long moment, where he reacted so subtly she could only imagine that most of his responses were cancelling each other out, she added “but it looks like I got beaten to the punch… so to speak.”

He sighed, hoarse and harsh, and the disdainful young man was that much more visible. It comforted her, and she didn't know why, that not all of that Tenzin, the one with his arm linked through Lin's and looking back at her coldly, had gone. Maybe she still wanted to dislike him. Maybe Lin had still wanted to dislike her. After another, longer, moment, he said “’when’ not ‘if’”.

Su shrugged, because it was hard enough to explain to herself, let alone another person. “As unlikely as it may seem, I had a brain on me, even then. It wasn’t –”

The combustionbender flashed before her eyes, Lin lying helpless and about to die in front of her, and then still helpless and in front of her, but this time writhing in agony, blood covering her hands and face from the cable Su’s knife had cut. She winced, slamming down a hand to ground herself, and cleared her throat. Tenzin was looking at her with concern, like he wasn’t the one half-dead. She touched his face again, forcing her own to twist into a smile. “I forgive you, Tenzin. And I’ll let you get some rest.”

She got to her feet. “Would you like me to get you anything? Water? Pema? One or several of your children?”

(Opal with the waterbender’s icy talon to her forehead.)

“I’m fine,” he said, “thank you.” She inclined her head in recognition of the lie, and left, her metal boots clinking softly.

**Author's Note:**

> you know the drill, toss a comment to your author.


End file.
